History and Hope: Exploration into Neocolonist Traumas in the Past and Visions for the Future in Southeast Asia and ASEAN, and Their Effects on Positionality on the Global Power Balance

As Southeast Asia (SEA) is an increasingly economically and politically developing region of the world, it has not only become a valuable target for Chinese imperialism (most recognizably through the interest of the geopolitical Belt and Road Initiative) as an area to practice “peripheral” statecraft but also gained value to Western and traditionally Western-allied (WTWA) countries as potential allies and conduits for actions to reduce Chinese power. However, Western imperialism and neocolonialism have violently plagued the area in both history and the present, and atrocities against civilians and governments are not easily forgotten. In order to identify trends in this tension between SEA and WTWA countries, I focus on the relationships between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN, a group of 10 leading SEA countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or “Quad” (a group of four WTWA countries: U.S., Australia, India, and Japan). By analyzing the relationships between coalitions through a temporal framework of historical precedent and future aspirations, we are able to better understand the current points of stress as well as avenues for cooperation in the relationship between not only the two international alliances but also, more generally, WTWA powers and SEA countries